Debut author Becky Gandillon is the coauthor of The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World. From St. Louis, Missouri, Becky has been a Disney fan since she was 18 months old! She combines her love for data and Disney by analyzing crowd and touring patterns at Walt Disney World and Disneyland. Becky and her husband love traveling both to the World and around the real world with their two daughters. You might run into their redheaded family in some of their favorite places—in Orlando, at sea on a Disney cruise ship, at a ski resort in the Rockies, or at a national park.

Bob Sehlinger, a Lowell Thomas Award-winning journalist, is best known as the creator and producer of The Unofficial Guide series.

Len Testa, a lifelong Disney theme park fan, is also coauthor of The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland and The Unofficial Guide to the Disney Cruise Line. Len leads the team at Touring Plans, a research arm of The Unofficial Guides.

What Is Disney World?

We may be biased, but we think Walt Disney World (WDW), in Orlando, Florida, is the best collection of theme parks anywhere. Its size, quality, theming, and ambition go far beyond that of any other amusement park or theme park you may have seen.

You might be familiar with commercials for Disney’s theme parks. These are great at showing families bonding over exciting rides and meeting famous characters, but 30-second ads don’t convey where to find those rides and characters, how long you’ll stand in line, or how much money this magical visit will cost. That’s where this book comes in. We give you all of the information you need to know, in a format that you can refer back to as you continue to plan, book, and then take your vacation.

Let’s start with the basics! Walt Disney World has four theme parks. If you think of Walt Disney World, the park that probably comes to mind is the Magic Kingdom—the first one built and the one most people think of when they hear the words Disney World. The other three theme parks are EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

Walt Disney World also boasts two water parks, Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon. But wait, there’s more: over three dozen hotels and a campground; more than 100 restaurants; a massive year-round sports center; an outdoor mall/entertainment/hotel complex called Disney Springs; six convention centers; four golf courses; and an array of spas, recreation options, and other activities. Phew!

How Big Is Walt Disney World?

Walt Disney World is massive—around 43 square miles, about double the size of Manhattan and slightly smaller than Miami.

We like to use the theme parks as rough guideposts for the locations of other places within Walt Disney World. For example, the Magic Kingdom Resort Area is about 7 square miles and contains the Magic Kingdom theme park and nearby hotels, restaurants, golf courses, and entertainment.

The theme parks are miles apart, separated by barely-developed Central Florida swampland—so you’ll either need a car to get around or you can use the Walt Disney World transportation system’s fleet of buses, boats, vans, monorails, and aerial gondolas (the Skyliner). Disney World’s bus system is the third largest in Florida, behind Jacksonville’s and Miami’s. Its transportation system is so large (and complex) that Part 9 of this book is dedicated to it.

Because of Walt Disney World’s size and everything there is to do, it would take at least two weeks to thoroughly explore most of it. Two weeks at Disney is way outside of the budget for most families, so we’ll tell you the best things to see in the time you have available.

The Major Theme Parks

The Magic Kingdom

Opened in 1971, the Magic Kingdom is the original Walt Disney World theme park. Here you’ll find Cinderella Castle, along with other entertainment and rides, mostly featuring Disney characters. It’s only one piece of Disney World, but it remains the heart.

The Magic Kingdom is divided into six “lands” arranged around a central hub. First you come to Main Street, U.S.A., which connects the park entrance with the hub. Arranged clockwise around the hub are Adventureland, Frontierland, Liberty Square, Fantasyland, and Tomorrowland.

The Magic Kingdom has more rides, shows, and entertainment than any other WDW theme park. A comprehensive tour would take two days, but a tour of the highlights (and more) can be done in one full day.

Three resorts—the Contemporary and Grand Floridian Resorts, Polynesian Village, and their villa units (Bay Lake Tower, The Villas at the Grand Floridian, and Disney’s Polynesian Villas and Bungalows)— are connected to the Magic Kingdom by monorail and boat. Three other hotels—Shades of Green (for the US military and their families), Wilderness Lodge (including the Boulder Ridge Villas and Copper Creek Villas & Cabins), and Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground— are located nearby but are served by boat and bus instead of monorail.

EPCOT

Opened in 1982, EPCOT is twice as big as the Magic Kingdom. The “front” (southern) part consists of three areas (World Discovery, World Celebration, and World Nature) with giant pavilions themed to human creativity, technological advancement, and the natural world; World Showcase, the “back” (northern) part, is arranged around a 40-acre lagoon and presents the architectural, social, and cultural heritages of almost a dozen nations, with each country represented by its own pavilion. EPCOT has recently been undergoing a revitalization that aims to increase its appeal among families with young children, which typically means the introduction of more Disney characters.

The EPCOT resorts—the BoardWalk Inn & Villas, Dolphin, Swan, Swan Reserve, Yacht & Beach Club Resorts, and Beach Club Villas—are within a 5- to 15-minute walk of the International Gateway, a secondary entrance to the theme park located in World Showcase. The hotels are also linked to EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios by boat and walkway. EPCOT is connected to the Magic Kingdom and its hotels by monorail. An elevated gondola system called the Skyliner links EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios to Disney’s Pop Century, Art of Animation, Caribbean Beach, and Riviera Resorts. In case you can’t tell, this is one of the most well-connected areas of the entire resort, and a personal favorite of our authors.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Opened in 1989 in an area slightly larger than the Magic Kingdom, Disney’s Hollywood Studios (DHS) has two main sections. About half of the space is a theme park focused on the motion picture, music, and television industries. Highlights include a re-creation of Hollywood and Sunset Boulevards from Hollywood’s Golden Age, several rides and musical shows, and a movie stunt show.

The other half is made up of two immersive movie-themed lands. Toy Story Land opened in 2018 with three themed rides for children. Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge opened in 2019 and is an incredibly immersive area that has two state-of-the-art, large rides for older children, teens, and adults.

DHS is connected to other Walt Disney World areas by highway, boat, and Skyliner but not by monorail. Guests can park in DHS’s parking lot or commute by bus; guests at EPCOT resort hotels can reach DHS by boat, on foot, or by Skyliner.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom

About five times the size of the Magic Kingdom, Disney’s Animal Kingdom is the largest park. It combines zoological exhibits with rides, shows, and live entertainment. The park is arranged in a hub-and-spoke configuration somewhat like the Magic Kingdom. A tropical rainforest serves as “Main Street,” funneling visitors to Discovery Island, the park’s hub. Dominated by the park’s icon, the 14-story-tall, hand-carved Tree of Life, Discovery Island offers services, shopping, and dining. From there, guests can access the themed areas: Africa, Asia, DinoLand U.S.A., and Pandora. Discovery Island, Africa, and DinoLand U.S.A. opened in 1998, followed by Asia in 1999. Africa is over 100 acres just by itself and is home to free-roaming herds in a re-creation of the Serengeti Plain.

Pandora—The World of Avatar, based on James Cameron’s Avatar film franchise, is the most significant recent expansion. Its biggest draw may be the scenery—including “floating mountains” and glow-in-the-dark plants—which Disney has replicated from the movie. See Part 13 for full details.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom has its own parking lot and is connected to other Walt Disney World destinations by the Disney bus system. Although no hotels lie within walking distance of Animal Kingdom, the All-Star Resorts, Animal Kingdom Lodge & Villas, and Coronado Springs Resort are all nearby.

The Water Parks

Disney World has two water parks : Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach. Opened in 1989, Typhoon Lagoon is known for its wave pool capable of making 6-foot waves. Blizzard Beach opened in 1995 and features more slides. Both parks pay careful attention to atmosphere and theme. Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach have their own parking lots and can be reached by Disney bus.

Becky Gandillon is the coauthor of The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World. From St. Louis, Missouri, Becky has been a Disney fan since she was 18 months old! She combines her love for data and Disney by analyzing crowd and touring patterns at Walt Disney World and Disneyland. Becky and her husband love traveling both to the World and around the real world with their two daughters. You might run into their redheaded family in some of their favorite places—in Orlando, at sea on a Disney cruise ship, at a ski resort in the Rockies, or at a national park.

Bob Sehlinger, a Lowell Thomas Award-winning journalist, is best known as the creator and producer of The Unofficial Guide series.

Len Testa, a lifelong Disney theme park fan, is also coauthor of The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland and The Unofficial Guide to Disney Cruise Line. Len leads the team at Touring Plans, a research arm of The Unofficial Guides.

The Pros and Cons of Staying On-Site

1. Cost: You should expect to pay $150–$175 per night (including taxes and fees), depending on time of year, for a clean, safe, well-maintained hotel room near Disney World. In or near this price range, on-site hotels come out ahead. Rooms at Pop Century Resort, for example, cost $183– $450 (before discounts) throughout the year. For even less, you could stay at the All-Star Resorts, all of which have been refurbished to look and feel almost exactly like the rooms at Pop Century. Still, for Skyliner access, we prefer Pop Century even with its slightly higher cost.

Off-site hotels and homes are often better deals for families looking for more space, or high-end lodging and service, for the same money. For instance, Disney’s cheapest family suite, at the All-Star Music Resort, sleeps six and costs $350–$716 per night. A comparable room at the Sonesta ES Suites Lake Buena Vista costs around $189–$304 per night, depending on the time of year. Renting a three-bedroom condo in Kissimmee is even cheaper: around $160–$260 per night. In 2024, my (Becky’s) family spent four nights at a two-bedroom condo in Oakwater Resort for less than $100 a night. We had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, two walk-in closets, laundry machines, a full kitchen, and a living room. And we were less than 15 minutes from any of the theme parks! You can afford a longer trip with those savings—a fact that more than offsets the on-site perks.

Similarly, the cheapest room at Disney’s flagship Grand Floridian Resort & Spa costs about $780–$1,280. The cheapest room at the Four Seasons Resort Orlando (near the Magic Kingdom) is $70 above the upper end of that range. But the Four Seasons room is larger and better in every way, with restaurants generally as good as the Grand Floridian’s, along with superior customer service. And the pools are like their own water park.

While we think Disney’s least expensive hotels are worth the extra cost versus staying off-site, we receive plenty of negative reader comments. The vast majority are about the lack of value found at Disney’s more expensive hotels. A reader from Illinois is an example:

Before the pandemic, we stayed on-site at Disney resorts every time. I’m planning our first trip back, and I just don’t think paying onsite prices makes sense anymore. No Magical Express from the airport, no more free Fastpass+ selections. And we’re not early risers, so Early Entry won’t help us either.

Quite frankly, we agree that Disney’s Deluxe hotels—the Grand Floridian and Contemporary in particular—are overpriced. At both of these locations, what you’re paying for is the ability to walk to the Magic Kingdom.

The Hotel Information Table on pages 194–199 includes the cost range for both on-site and select off-site hotels at a glance.

2. Ease of Access: Even if you stay in the Walt Disney World bubble, you’re dependent on some mode of transportation. It may be less stressful to use the Disney transportation system, but, with the exception of getting to the Magic Kingdom, the fastest, most efficient, most flexible way to get around is usually by car. If you’re in EPCOT, for example, and you want to take your cranky kids back to the Contemporary Resort for a nap, forget the monorail; you’ll get back much faster by car.

The Disney transportation system is like most public transportation with its pros and cons, and users must expect inconveniences, including vehicles that arrive and depart on their schedule, not yours; the occasional need to transfer; multiple stops; time lost loading and unloading passengers; and other people just as desperate to catch a ride as you are.

If you plan to have a car, traffic on I-4 is the largest potential problem with staying at an off-site hotel, especially if you’re coming or going during rush hours. The closer your off-site hotel is to Disney property, the less risk there is in being stuck in I-4 traffic. Secondary roads, such as Turkey Lake Road, Palm Parkway, International Drive, and Universal Boulevard, can help get you around that traffic. A Kentucky dad was pleasantly surprised by the short commute:

My wife read in another guidebook that it can take 2 hours to commute to the parks if you stay outside Walt Disney World. I guess it could take 2 hours if you stayed in Tampa, but from our hotel on US 192, we could commute to any of the parks except the Magic Kingdom and have at least one ride under our belt in about an hour.

For commuting times from our recommended off-site hotels, see our Hotel Information Table on pages 194–199.

3. Food Costs: A few off-site hotels’ prices include some sort of free breakfast, ranging from fruit and pastries to pancakes, microwavable waffles, bacon, and eggs. The Disney hotels don’t. Depending on how hungry your family is in the morning, eating breakfast at your off-site hotel can save you a minimum of $6–$16 per person, per day versus breakfast in the parks. Or you can get groceries delivered to wherever you’re staying. My family does grocery delivery to our room whether we’re staying off-site or on-site, and it saves us a significant amount of money, especially on breakfast foods.

4. Young Children: Although the hassle of commuting to most offsite hotels is only slightly (if at all) greater than that of commuting to Disney hotels, a definite peace of mind results from staying in the World. Disney resorts are used to catering to kids, much more so than any hotels in the “real world.”

5. Splitting Up: If you’re in a party that will probably split up to tour (as frequently happens in families with teens or children of widely varying ages), staying in the World offers more transportation options and, thus, more independence. Mom and Dad can take the car and return to the hotel for a relaxed dinner and early bedtime while the teens remain in the park for extra rides.

6. Visiting Other Orlando-Area Attractions: If you also plan to visit Universal Orlando, SeaWorld, the Kennedy Space Center, or other area attractions, it may be more convenient to stay off-site or to split your stay.